In late 2014, PASCAR and WHF awarded small grants for advocacy projects on RHD. These have funded:

Uganda: Uganda Heart-Research Foundation worked with Mulago Hospital, Uganda NCD Alliance, Uganda Media Association (UMA) and Uganda Initiative for Integrated Management of Non-Communicable Disease to organize a campaign to:
•Develop a report on the burden of RHD in Uganda and dissemination of the report, REMEDY data and the Quick TIPS document and posters on primary prevention at the UMA conference (early November 2014).
•Form an RHD advisory committee (17 January 2015), and a media campaign. Events were covered by national television and print media. http://www.pascar.org/news/entry/rhd-advocacy-uganda

Mozambique: National Public Health Institute of Mozambique and the NCD Division of the Ministry of Health launched the first annual Rheumatic Heart Disease Day on December 15, 2014 at the Faculty of Medicine, University Eduardo Mondlane. Some 70 people attended the half-day event, including representatives from Ministries of Health, Education, and Science and Technology, as well as from various health institutes, NGOs and the Mozambican Heart Association. http://www.pascar.org/news/entry/mini-grants-for-rhd-advocacy

Sudan: Sudanese Heart Association and Sudanese Children Heart Society sponsored a workshop on  sore throat treatment with the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialists on 25 January 2015. Addressing a divergence between practice of ENT specialists and RHD advocates, the workshop aimed to stimulate development of joint recommendations for sore throat treatment. The workshop was attended by Dr. Bongani Mayosi of PASCAR, who presented on the Mosi-i-Tunya Declaration, and Dr. Alaa El Ghamrawy shared experience of management of sore throat in Egypt. The 21 participants represented the Ministry of Health, WHO, the RHD advisory committee and the Sudanese Pediatric Society, ENT specialists, and local NGOs.  They discussed problems with benzathine penicillin G quality and accessibility in Sudan, explored possibilities for integrating sore throat treatment into IMCI guidelines, committed to working with the Ministry to ensure training on RHD for all health personnel and provision of benzathine penicillin G free of charge; and proposed to develop collaboration between Yemen, Egypt and Sudan in RHD control. http://www.pascar.org/news/entry/rhd-advocacy-sudan

South Africa: The South African NCD Alliance worked with the national patient alliance, the Departments of Health, Education, the Stop Stockouts Program, Management Systems for Health and many other initiatives to advocate for inclusion of RHD prevention and treatment into NCD plans and budgets. Integrating RHD into a strategic mapping exercise to analyse the government’s response to NCDs, and advocacy around conclusions.  Mapping determined that sore throat treatment is integrated into treatment guidelines for primary care, developed an online system for reporting stockouts, and determined that there was a national stockout of BPG.  The project is developing plans for addressing issues identified.

Funding for the grants was provided by Bupa.